"Your story should be written now while it is fresh and while the true details are available. A journal is the literature of superiority. Each individual can become superior in her own humble life." ~Spencer W. Kimball

Pages

Monday, May 18, 2015

Spaghetti Syrup

All growing up we looked forward to Saturdays.

Not only were the most amazing cartoons on Saturday mornings, but my Dad would make breakfast, which meant pancakes. Every single Saturday for my whole life we had pancakes, and I never got tired of them. It was something to really enjoy, and treasure. A memory I surely love, and something I have always toyed with doing for my kids.

Except I always want to sleep in on Saturdays, because I don't ever get to any other day.

Last Saturday, however, I decided to get up and make the kids some delicious pancakes, along with homemade syrup, as usual.

The pancakes were delicious. They were perfectly golden and round and delicious. The pan I needed for syrup was in the dishwasher, and it hadn't been turned on yet, so I pulled it out, inspected it, and was satisfied. It looked like Jeffrey had given it a good washing before putting it in the dishwasher. Just to be safe, though, I gave it a quick cleaning, and then began to make the most delicious syrup ever invented. Really. I found the recipe on agirlandagluegun.com and probably will only go back to maple syrup only if we are out of butter. Because, yum!

She calls it Divine Syrup, and it is aptly named. All you need is 2 cups sugar, 1 cup butter. Melt it together in a large saucepan. That part is important. It has to be larger than you would expect because the syrup really foams up and the first few times I made it, I had it all over my stove. A large saucepan. Remember that. Once it is melted together, add 1 cup of buttermilk. I usually just use regular milk and 1 tablespoon of lemon juice. Like magic, it makes buttermilk! Bring it all to a boil and let it boil for 1 minute. Remove it from the heat and add 1 teaspoon of baking soda and 1 teaspoon of vanilla. Stir well. This is the part that really foams up and will volcano all over your stove if you don't have a large enough pot. On the bright side, if your pot is too small, you will get an impromptu and lovely science experiment, and all the kids will rush to see why Mom is squawking in the kitchen, and then will ooh and aah over the bubbling sugary solution, followed by many fingers in the gooey concoction, happily "helping" to clean up the sticky, but actually planning to spread said sticky all over the house from top to bottom. Because that is how kids work. And that is also why I love my job.

I was so excited because for the first time, I had a pot that was large enough. I didn't have to clean up any syrup off the stove. And it smelled so good! Everything was coming together perfectly. Jeffrey sauntered into the kitchen as I was finishing up with the pancakes and decided to make some eggs while the griddle was still hot. The kids set the table with the fancy dishes, Faye made some orange juice, and we all sat down to breakfast, eager to eat the fluffy goodness called pancakes.

I watched as the amber liquid drizzled out of the decanter it was in and onto my hotcakes, making thin golden designs, and somewhat mesmerizing me as I poured it. It glossed over my breakfast, highlighting the colors, glistening the pat of butter, and my mouth began to water. I eagerly laid the syrup aside, cut a piece with my fork, and with great anticipation took my first bite of pancake.

It was glorious! I happily chewed, swallowed, and the stopped.

While in my mouth it was heaven. As soon as I swallowed, the syrup morphed into spaghetti sauce. The aftertaste was most definitely that of spaghetti sauce, which we had eaten for dinner the night before.

The horrid reality dawned on me. The pan I had taken from the dishwasher to make the syrup in must have been the one which had cooked the spaghetti sauce. And while it had been rinsed out, even with soap, it hadn't had a good sound scrubbing, and so the sauce flavor was still prevalent in the pan, and had transferred its flavor into my lovely golden syrup, thus compromising its deliciousness.

It was a sad pancake morning for me.

Funny enough, though, the kids didn't seem to even notice the spaghetti aftertaste and devoured nearly all the pancakes and syrup like hungry little birdies.

Thank heavens they will eat anything so we didn't have to waste all that syrup!